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Sam Altman fired as CEO of OpenAI

Mesousa

Banned
I just can’t imagine what Microsoft could have offered for these guys to join. When I made it myself a decade ago, and put down the Microsoft badge, I can’t imagine an Euro amount or a promise of resources that would ever get me put that badge back on. I just don’t need it, it won’t be fun, I can do everything I want much better outside Microsoft. I am absolutely insignificant compared to these guys, the entire world is open to them. They can do whatever they want wherever they want with unlimited resources. A Microsoft badge? This story got even weirder.
A decade ago was the stagnant Ballmer days though. Thanks to Satya the stock has exploded in the decade since. Realistically if you were a worker there in that decade and saved your ESPP/Bonus stock/on hire stock you are a most likely millionaire this morning. Sure they wont give the sexy package of Google or Uber, but thats a solid return for a company that gives pretty sweet(outside of Azure) WLB.
 

FUBARx89

Member
No, it seems like it was orignally 550, but it was updated to 505 later. It seems like there are 505 employees in really. Though looking at how it is playing out, Microsoft might just acquire OpenAI at this point by absorbing it.

Also



Translation - "I thought I could get away with it, but look at all the pressure. My arse is falling out."
 

Ozriel

M$FT
The fact that Tom broke this news is no coincidence either.

Losing my shit at you thinking Tom Warren was the first to know about this

Naive?

Think you’re mixing up meanings here. The non profit clause was rendered bs from the moment MS entered the picture. OpenAI was already dying, it was either a slow death by riches or quick death by morals. MS got what they wanted.

No. The non-profit clause was rendered BS as soon as it became clear they needed a shitload of money to train their LLMs and run queries. Billions of dollars, for that matter.
 

Roxkis_ii

Member
Damn, it's sad that we will lose a non profit in the AI space to a for profit company. Doesn't inspire confidence that the AI they create will be used to the betterment of humanity instead of finding new interesting ways to increase Microsoft stock price.
 
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Three

Member
Losing my shit at you thinking Tom Warren was the first to know about this
He wasn't the first to know, he was the one who broke the news though. His (likely MS) sources told him.
No. The non-profit clause was rendered BS as soon as it became clear they needed a shitload of money to train their LLMs and run queries. Billions of dollars, for that matter.
You can still acquire money to run things but be non-profit. I don't think you know what non-profit means.
 
Damn, it's sad that we will lose a non profit in the AI space to a for profit company. Doesn't inspire confidence that the AI they create will be used to the betterment of humanity instead of finding new interesting ways to increase Microsoft stock price.
And the cars were created for the betterment of humanity /s
 

Ozriel

M$FT
He wasn't the first to know, he was the one who broke the news though. His (likely MS) sources told him.

He didn’t break the news. You claiming he was the one who broke the news because he started his tweet with ‘BREAKING’ is frankly hilarious.

it’s already common knowledge now that Microsoft was blindsided by the decision

You can still acquire money to run things but be non-profit. I don't think you know what non-profit means.

You’re not getting $10bn investment and getting in competition with Google without plans to make profitable products.
 

E-Cat

Member
Damn, it's sad that we will lose a non profit in the AI space to a for profit company. Doesn't inspire confidence that the AI they create will be used to the betterment of humanity instead of finding new interesting ways to increase Microsoft stock price.
The most ironic outcome is the most likely.
 

Three

Member
it’s already common knowledge now that Microsoft was blindsided by the decision
How quick a subsidiary was set up with Sam Altman and a coup d'état in effect to drain employees I would say they weren't that blindsided. If I had to guess about what wasn't openly communicated with the board it would be that Altman was their Mason Morfit on the board doing things that he wasn't openly sharing with them. We still haven't figured out what the internal turmoil was.
 

Thirty7ven

Banned
How quick a subsidiary was set up with Sam Altman and a coup d'état in effect to drain employees I would say they weren't that blindsided. If I had to guess about what wasn't openly communicated with the board it would be that Altman was their Mason Morfit on the board doing things that he wasn't openly sharing with them. We still haven't figured out what the internal turmoil was.

Seriously can people stop playing dumb for once?
 

E-Cat

Member
How quick a subsidiary was set up with Sam Altman and a coup d'état in effect to drain employees I would say they weren't that blindsided. If I had to guess about what wasn't openly communicated with the board it would be that Altman was their Mason Morfit on the board doing things that he wasn't openly sharing with them. We still haven't figured out what the internal turmoil was.
We know exactly what the internal turmoil was if you read the Atlantic article, or have followed things more closely over the past few months. Sam wanted to push out new product after new product to the public, set up multi-decabillion dollar chip manufacturing operations to compete with NVIDIA, talking to the Softbank CEO Masayoshi Son about making AI hardware in a new company in partnership with Jony Ive...

Meanwhile, idealist & decelerationist Ilya Sutskever took a spiritual/bipolar turn, literally burning effigies symbolizing non-aligned AI at the stake, repeating the mantra "feel the AGI" to employees, basically going off the deep end. He then convinced the board that Sam was going too far, too fast, and against the company's founding principles; an action that he later came to regret. There's nothing sinister or shady going on. The bonehead BOD religiously followed the non-profit doctrine, rather having OAI burn to the ground than seeing Sam's commercial pursuits flourish -- which is exactly what's happening.
 
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Thorpe

Member
Yeah, this was an interesting turn of events and I doubt we have seen the actual conclusion yet. Non-competes/Non-solicitations are void/prohibited in California too (Although I'm sure some special cases may be allowed). In the event the folks move over to Microsoft, I wonder what the board will do with the underlying technology and trade secrets/Intellectual Property if that is all that mostly remains to protect - let alone the risk of folks just bringing it right over to Microsoft? Likely just sell it at a reduced/tanked price, if that. If anything, Microsoft will just say it is different enough to not be similar lol

Would Microsoft have been successful with buying OpenAI initially (including its valuation price) without regulation intervening? This may end up benefiting Microsoft more than anyone, but I'm curious on where Ilya goes. Will he try and stabilize the current company? Based on him signing that pledge with the rest of the executives/employees, I'm betting he'll bounce and bring his talent to Microsoft (along with the rest) - not sure if they'll get their equivalent positions though. That or he spawns his own company.

The plan to be absorbed by Microsoft doesn't sound as farfetched now though.
 

Ozriel

M$FT
How quick a subsidiary was set up with Sam Altman and a coup d'état in effect to drain employees I would say they weren't that blindsided.
Not you thinking they already had office buildings set up and labeled desks etc.

Not that hard to summon an emergency board meeting over the weekend when it’s a major issue concerning a $10bn investment into AI that’s now a core of all Microsoft’s enterprise offerings.

Everyone was expecting MS shares to take a dive today and you think they’d be twiddling their thumbs?
 

E-Cat

Member
I wonder what the board will do with the underlying technology and trade secrets/Intellectual Property if that is all that mostly remains to protect - let alone the risk of folks just bringing it right over to Microsoft? Likely just sell it at a reduced/tanked price, if that.
Whatever they do, they must not make a profit so as not to interfere w/ the company charter. ;)
Would Microsoft have been successful with buying OpenAI initially (including its valuation price) without regulation intervening? This may end up benefiting Microsoft more than anyone, but I'm curious on where Ilya goes. Will he try and stabilize the current company? Based on him signing that pledge with the rest of the executives/employees, I'm betting he'll bounce and bring his talent to Microsoft (along with the rest) - not sure if they'll get their equivalent positions though. That or he spawns his own company.
Seems like Ilya came to realize the error of his (bipolar) ways and had a "come to Jesus moment". Sam even redeemed him w/ heart emojis.
The plan to be absorbed by Microsoft doesn't sound as farfetched now though.
MS couldn't have done it without the utterly incompetent OAI board. It's almost criminal, except it isn't.
 
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E-Cat

Member
Not you thinking they already had office buildings set up and labeled desks etc.

Not that hard to summon an emergency board meeting over the weekend when it’s a major issue concerning a $10bn investment into AI that’s now a core of all Microsoft’s enterprise offerings.

Everyone was expecting MS shares to take a dive today and you think they’d be twiddling their thumbs?
Yah, this goddamn badass CEO is merely upholding his fiduciary duty to the shareholders of Microsoft. They're not exactly sharpening the tips of pencils here, this is civilizational level order consequential stuff. OAI had lightning in a bottle, then attempted to feed MS a thousand demon cocks from hell. What did they expect, a limp-dick indecisive countermove? Not our bad boy Satya.
 
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The most ironic outcome is the most likely.

Of course this shit would happen one day. We're in a monopoly/oligopoly society, so fuck yes there's no other expectation except for this to happen.

To happen this way is the interesting part, couldn't predict it and now MS stock is up.
 
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Chittagong

Gold Member
The more I think of this, the more it smells like a play by Sam, Greg and Ilya to concentrate power.

They agree that Ilya persuades couple of the board idiots to back his ‘coup’, presenting himself as the tiebreaker. Three super intelligent guys can make a plausible rationale enough for a Quora CEO to bite.

All the investors and staff back Sam, but Sam only returns on his terms. Which is absolute power, and none of those non-execs. Maybe a Microsoft seat for the very cheap price of twenty billion dollars.

Watch what happens to Ilya, that will be the key.



well-there-it-is.gif
 
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Tams

Member
So just so I understand, people are really going out there batting for a guy that was pro MS buying such a large share of Open AI, undermining the purpose for which the company was built, and was trying to turn Open AI into a chipmaker so that the company could long term turn into the very thing it was built to avoid.

Now he was hired by the company that would be one of many awful custodians of AGI, and people cheer?

What the fuck is going on with the world?

I want the singularity and AGI to happen sooner.

Anyway, it was mostly the immature way they went about it. If they are fit to on a board of directors, then I should be on one too.

Anyway, it's not our opinions that matter. It's the more than 5/7ths of OpenAI's very own employees who are batting for Altman and Brockman. And I don't think they care an iota what any of us here think.
 
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E-Cat

Member
I want the singularity and AGI to happen sooner.
Me too, I'm an accelerationist.

Sam Altman is still trying to return as OpenAI CEO​

Sam Altman’s surprise move to Microsoft after his shock firing at OpenAI isn’t a done deal. He and co-founder Greg Brockman are still open to returning to OpenAI if the remaining board members who fired him step aside, multiple sources tell The Verge.

The promised mass exodus of virtually every OpenAI employee, including board member and chief scientist Ilya Sutskever who led the move to depose Altman, means that there is more push to remove the board than ever, and only two of three remaining board members need to flip to make it happen. Altman just posted on X that “we are all going to work together some way or other,” which we are told is meant to indicate that the fight continues.

 
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StreetsofBeige

Gold Member
So Altman was ousted, MS hired him and others to lead an AI division, and OpenAI employees are hoping Altman comes back? How is this possible. The ship has sailed.
 

Lord Panda

The Sea is Always Right
I better start saving and archiving all my useful ChatGPT conversations in case the whole service implodes.
 

E-Cat

Member
So Altman was ousted, MS hired him and others to lead an AI division, and OpenAI employees are hoping Altman comes back? How is this possible. The ship has sailed.
If the alternative is 700+ out of 770 OpenAI employees quitting, who knows what could happen?

The MS hire doesn't appear to be final, but a 'holding pattern' as discussed above.
 
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SJRB

Gold Member
Man that Ilya tweet is insane. Absolutely fucking bonkers. And now 500+ employees leaving OpenAI? Altman joining MS? This story is wild.

Four people effectively killed an 80 billion dollar company, lol. I hope they sleep well tonight.
 

Three

Member
We know exactly what the internal turmoil was if you read the Atlantic article,

or have followed things more closely over the past few months. Sam wanted to push out new product after new product to the public, set up multi-decabillion dollar chip manufacturing operations to compete with NVIDIA, talking to the Softbank CEO Masayoshi Son about making AI hardware in a new company in partnership with Jony Ive...

Meanwhile, idealist & decelerationist Ilya Sutskever took a spiritual/bipolar turn, literally burning effigies symbolizing non-aligned AI at the stake, repeating the mantra "feel the AGI" to employees, basically going off the deep end. He then convinced the board that Sam was going too far, too fast, and against the company's founding principles; an action that he later came to regret. There's nothing sinister or shady going on. The bonehead BOD religiously followed the non-profit doctrine, rather having OAI burn to the ground than seeing Sam's commercial pursuits flourish -- which is exactly what's happening.
I'm aware that Altman was looking for commercial pursuits but you forgot one big player that Altman is very close with and was seeking a partnership with as early as just last week:


What I'm saying is that we don't know how the BoD were convinced to fire him, what exactly Sam Altman was not candid in communicating with the board, unless the Atlantic article explains that (it's behind a paywall and the information I'm reading is only third hand). It's all very well if you think the companys values are off the deep end or that the BoD are boneheaded but the board was obviously convinced that he wasn't candid in his communication with them.

Not you thinking they already had office buildings set up and labeled desks etc.

Not that hard to summon an emergency board meeting over the weekend when it’s a major issue concerning a $10bn investment into AI that’s now a core of all Microsoft’s enterprise offerings.

Everyone was expecting MS shares to take a dive today and you think they’d be twiddling their thumbs?
When did I say they had buildings ready with labelled desks and that simultaneously they were twiddling their thumbs?

I'm saying Sam Altman was likely pushing MS's agenda to the board and MS were fully aware of the boards non profit values and principles but much like Mason Morfit and Nintendo they had somebody they were allied with to try and push that idea of more money and scale on the board even if they knew it probably wouldn't work. They were prepared for this contingency and the coup d'état and subsidiary is just a way of still getting that when the board rejected the ideas Altman was apparently duplicitously pushing.
 
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E-Cat

Member
What I'm saying is that we don't know how the BoD were convinced to fire him, what exactly Sam Altman was not candid in communicating with the board, unless the Atlantic article explains that (it's behind a paywall and the information I'm reading is only third hand). It's all very well if you think the companies values are off the deep end or that the BoD are boneheaded but the board was obviously convinced that he wasn't candid in his communication with them.
What made Ilya Sutskever change his mind? Could it be that, in his hubris, he failed to read the room, namely that 90%+ of employees still support Sam as CEO? This doesn't speak to fraud or deception, or anything serious like that.

I don't think we're going to learn the exact reasons behind the firing, but it's probably got to do with him not being super candid with the board about the extent of the dealmaking on the chip factory, etc. It doesn't need to be anything nebulous or sinister, per se, just feeling left out of the loop and uncomfortable with how fast things are developing in that direction. That's my Occam's razor read of the situation.
 

Ozriel

M$FT
When did I say they had buildings ready with labelled desks and that simultaneously they were twiddling their thumbs?

I'm saying Sam Altman was likely pushing MS's agenda to the board and MS were fully aware of the boards non profit values and principles but much like Mason Morfit and Nintendo they had somebody they were allied with to try and push that idea of more money and scale on the board even if they knew it probably wouldn't work.


Microsoft bought 49% of OpenAI and has invested over $10bn. ChatGPT is deeply ingrained in Microsoft’s AI efforts. OpenAI uses Microsoft as their exclusive technical partner. Of course they’ve been in tune with Microsoft’s agenda for ages now.

You think they put in $10bn for charity?

They were prepared for this contingency and the coup d'état and subsidiary is just a way of still getting that when the board rejected the ideas Altman was apparently duplicitously pushing.

all this, because they made an easy decision after an emergency board decision over the weekend? A decision that would certainly drive shareholder enthusiasm and rescue a perilous situation?

There’s no tech giant that can’t move this fast if need be.
 

Three

Member
Of course they’ve been in tune with Microsoft’s agenda for ages now.

You think they put in $10bn for charity?
Where are these dumbass questions coming from? Who said they put $10bn for Charity?

You think MS didn't want to own the majority share for a little more money? Obviously the board doesn't and didn’t want MS making the decisions at the company. So yes they're 'in tune' but they have differences in strategy and principle. The main one being the nonprofit part and the board deciding to keep the majority share so that it isn't going to listen to MS on every agenda they may have.
all this, because they made an easy decision after an emergency board decision over the weekend? A decision that would certainly drive shareholder enthusiasm and rescue a perilous situation?
There’s no tech giant that can’t move this fast if need be.
Now when you're done sucking MS' dick maybe consider that I didn't say MS's decision wasn't the right one to drive shareholder enthusiasm or that it was difficult. I'm saying they're playing their hand in getting what they want from OpenAI through this subsidiary/Altman and the coup d'état because the decision of the board was that they didn't want to do what Altman was trying to push on the board, which was in the interest of MS and not OpenAIs principles or values. It's almost like a hostile takeover without taking over the company even if they absolutely would have loved to.
 
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